William Mortlock, china warehouse

Tags

china

Street Views: 17 and 1 Suppl.
Address: 18 Regent Street

As we saw in the post on Mortlock & Sturges of 250 Oxford Street, John and William Mortlock dissolved their partnership in 1809 with John to remain at Oxford Street and William II to set up on his own in Regent Street. His sons John and Frederick also worked in the Regent Street business. William’s other son, also William, worked for his uncle in Oxford Street until 1828, when he partnered with his brother John at Regent Street. In 1835, however, uncle John of Oxford Street retired and nephew John left Regent Street to take over the business in Oxford Street. All quite complicated, but the end result was that William III was the sole proprietor of the Regent Street business.

advertisement in The Times, 23 May 1836

The Mortlock family did not live above the shop, or at least, they did not when the censuses were taken and the 1841 census only listed a shopman and several servants on the premises of 18 Regent Street. In 1851, James Clark and his wife Susannah are taking care of the shop with their son William acting as errand boy. James and Susannah are still there in 1861 and 1871, but by 1881 they have been replaced by Charles Cruse and his wife Dinah. The Cruses are still acting as caretakers at the time of the 1891 census, but by 1901 the premises appear to be empty. At least, number 18 is no longer mentioned in the census record which jumps straight from no. 16 (the Raleigh Club) to no. 20 (William P. Rowlands who worked on the Stock Exchange).

A coffee beaker with Mortlock’s mark on the bottom (Source: worthpoint.com)

William III Mortlock himself was listed as a retired china dealer in the 1871 census, but the next generation, brothers William IV and Frederick, had already taken over by then and in March 1872, a notice appeared in The London Gazette that the partnership between the three Mortlocks had officially been dissolved with the younger generation to continue the business. William III died in 1879 and left an estate of £60,000.⁽¹⁾ The brothers were both listed in the 1881 census as “gentleman”, suggesting they had retired. William IV died in 1888 and Frederick in 1915.⁽²⁾

In 1896, a large advertisement appeared in The Times for a sale at Mortlock’s in which they say they have sold the lease of 18 Regent Street. The 1902 Post Office Directory, however, still lists them, albeit with the information that the business had been transferred to Phillips Ltd of 19-21 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square. An intriguing notice appeared in The Times of 6 July 1881, in which Messrs. W. Mortlock and Sons of 18 Regent Street and 19 St. James’s Street state that, although the defendant in the Tower v. Mortlock case has several china shops in London, their business has no relation with that Mortlock. Although I have no idea what the court case was about, the notice in The Times tells us that at some point Mortlock had a second shop in St. James’s Street. The censuses for 1871 and 1881 have no names listed for the property, so no one was sleeping on the premises on the night of the census taking, but in 1891, the widow Clermont is listed at number 19 as a caretaker. Not that that proves anything as it does not say for whom she is caretaking. Tallis has a Mr. Brumby, glass manufacturer at the address, a business that was later taken over by J. Green and the 1856 Post Office Directory lists a J. Dobson, also a glass dealer. Did the Mortlocks take over from Dobson?

top section of the advertisement in The Times, 28 May 1896

Minton china plate, 1885, with Mortlock’s retailer’s mark on the bottom (Source: V&A)

More examples of Mortlock wares, both from the Oxford Street and the Regent Street shops are to be found here.

18 Regent Street is now part of the listed Dorland House at 14-22 Regent Street.⁽³⁾ It was built in the 1920s and designed by John James Joass (1868-1952) whom we have come across in the post on John Belcher, the architect and surveyor at 5 Adelaide Place. Joass continued the Belcher business after the death of John Belcher junior and was very successful. He designed, for instance, the Mappin and Webb building at 1 Poultry.

Regent Street looking towards Piccadilly Circus, with Dorland House on the right (Google Street View, March 2017)

(1) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1859. The executors were sons William and Frederick.
(2) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1888 and 1915. William left an estate of almost £40,000 and Frederick one of ±£43,500.
(3) Historic England, Grade II, list entry Number: 1222573 (see here).

Neighbours:

<– 20 Regent Street

17 Regent Street (1839) –> 16 Regent Street (1847) –>

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Carlton Chambers

Tags

architecture, solicitor

Street Views: 17 and 1 Suppl.
Address: 4-12 Regent Street

When John Nash was working on his Regent Street project, he ran into financial difficulties and James Burton came to his rescue. In return, Nash promoted the career of Burton’s son Decimus. Burton was a builder/developer who had already made his mark in building houses in Brunswick Square, Bloomsbury Square and Russell Square and was later to found the new town of St Leonards-on-Sea (see here). He bought up the leases of parts of Regent Street and one such plot was 4-12 Regent Street. Instead of just building individual houses, he envisaged one large building in which many professionals could have their office. According to James Elmes in his Topographical Dictionary of London and its Environs (1831), it was “a large handsome building”, “fitted up as sets of chambers for gentlemen and professional men”. It seems to have been ready for occupation in 1820.

If you compare the elevations for the property in the 1839 and 1847 editions of the Street View for that section of Regent Street, it is noticable that in 1839, the names of various tradesmen are written above the building: Luck, Kent and Cumming sell carpets, Jones is a tailor, Hatch is a bootmaker and Seguin has a library and ticket office. Not really the professionals you envisage in chambers. But the only name visible above the 1847 depiction of the building is that of the London Life & Fire Assurance Corporation.

The 1839 elevation

The 1847 elevation

The directory of the 1839 Street View does not help us very much either. Besides the four names we have just encountered in the elevation, the directory also mentions Ryalls & Co, a publisher, the London Assurance Corporation and just one firm of solicitors: Fuller and Saltwell. But, in the 1847 directory, the situation is quite different. Besides various shopkeepers, who, I assume, had their shop on the ground floor, quite a few architects and solicitors are listed as the occupants of the building.
Shopkeepers:
number 4: Luck, Kent & Cumming, carpet manufacturers
number 6: Jones, Tailor
number 8: –
number 10: London Assurance Corporation
number 12: Bailey & Moon, booksellers
Chambers:
number 4: no name specified
number 6: –
number 8: Mr. J. McMahon Du Pasquier, solicitor; Mr. Humby, solicitor; Mr. Blake, solicitor; Mr. Gell, solicitor; Cundy, solicitor; D.E. Columbine, solicitor; Mr. Snell, surveyor
number 10: –
number 12: Mr. Parish, architect; Fuller and Saltwell, solicitors; Mr. Vane, solicitor; Mr. Railton, architect; Mr. Laing, architect; Elmstie and Lee, architects; Mr. Hayes, solicitor; Mr. Mee, architect

I will write about the individual shopkeepers mentioned by Tallis separately at some point, but for this post, I will concentrate on Fuller and Saltwell.

Carlton Chambers (Source: christies.com)

Frederick James Fuller (-1874)⁽¹⁾ and William Henry Saltwell (1793-1875)⁽²⁾, solicitors, seem to have been the most permanent fixture amongst the occupants of the building as they can be found there right at the beginning in 1820 and they are still there in 1873. The first notice in the newspapers I found for them at Carlton Chambers is 25 February 1820 in The Morning Chronicle where they advertise for information on a missing young man. The last notice I found is on 5 July 1873 in The Ipswich Journal when they, still from Carlton Chambers, deal with the estate of the Reverend Robert Gordon, deceased.

At some point Fuller and Saltwell were assessed for a tax according to Act 48 Geo. 3. c. 55, to which they – unsuccessfully – objected and the report on the case gives us an interesting insight into the building and its use. Fuller and Saltwell claimed that “they were not liable to be rated to the duties on inhabited dwelling-houses, no person sleeping or boarding in their said chambers”. Their office was on the first floor of Carlton Chambers and

“the whole house being built for the express purpose of letting out in sets of chambers to gentlemen, with a public staircase, the same as in the inns of court, but with the exception of a door to the entrance from the street, which door is kept open during the day, but shut at night, and then opened when required by a porter or a female, who constantly reside in the lower part of the building for that purpose, as well as taking care of the chambers. Messrs. Fuller and Saltwell hold a lease granted by the owners of the building for 21 years, determinable at the option of either party, at the expiration of 10 years. The porter above-mentioned cleans the public stairs and keeps the chambers, and is paid by Messrs. Fuller and Saltwell as well as all the other occupants of sets of chambers 2s. 6d. per week, for so doing. The female also lights the fires in the appelants’ chambers, cleans the same, and is paid by them and the other occupants of chambers 4s. per week for her services.”⁽³⁾

I have looked in various sources to complete the picture for the period 1820-1850 and a long list of occupants could be compiled for Carlton Chambers, most of them architects, surveyors, attorneys or solicitors. Two are perhaps of note and worth mentioning: Decimus Burton, the son of the builder James Burton, became an architect and had his office at Carlton Chambers and so did George Gilbert Scott when he first started his career.
In 1938, the Carlton Chambers building was replaced by Rex House, designed by the architect Robert Cromie. At some point, it housed the BBC radio studios.

(1) Fuller died 25 December 1874 at 93 Maida-vale. Probate was granted on 9 March 1875 to two of his sons, Frederick, also a solicitor, and the reverend Charles James, clerk.
(2) More information on Saltwell here.
(3) Cases Determined on Appeal, Relating to Assessed Taxes. England for the years 1824, 1825, & 1826, Case 35.